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Chewed Up

Louis C.K.

LouisCK.com · 2008 · 61 min

A frustrated venting session about middle age, bad diets, and deer.

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Louis C.K. opens Chewed Up with a confession about eating excessively and masturbating too recently before running into an acquaintance, noting he lacked the time to process his own shame. It sets a baseline for a set built heavily on middle-aged self-loathing. He spends the act detailing his physical decline at forty, wondering aloud why he bothers stepping on a scale just to find out exactly how much of a problem he is. He operates on stage as a man entirely exhausted by his own decisions.

Filmed at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston in 2008, the production caught the comedian in the middle of a steep career ascent. He had recently adopted George Carlin’s model of retiring his material every year to build a new act, turning around Chewed Up right on the heels of his 2007 release Shameless. The shift in work ethic resulted in highly specific routines, like an extended monologue directed at a deer that shattered his car mirror. He also highlights the casual cruelty of young children, recalling a toddler ruining a desperate mother’s drink with a handful of sand. The Showtime broadcast went on to earn an Emmy nomination for writing, cementing the confessional style that defined his television run a few years later.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Deconstructing offensive words and taboos

    Applies uncompromising logic to slurs and vulgarity, arguing context and intent with warmth rather than malice.

  2. I Enjoy Being White

    Frankly acknowledges the historical advantages of being white while teasing the audience's discomfort without sounding hateful.

  3. Aging body and medical decline

    Examines the absurdities of turning 40 and physical breakdown through an interaction with a lazy, indifferent doctor.

  4. The reality of raising children

    Subverts parental sanctimony by bluntly characterizing kids as disease-carrying and irrational, including exchanges with an arrogant three-year-old.

  5. Cinnabon and Walgreens

    Humorously reflects on sad, solitary middle-aged gluttony and buying sweatpants and vodka at a depressing drugstore.

How it plays

Tone
Dark, unrepentantly crude, brutally honest, provocative, and warm.
On stage
Grumpy, unpretentious, direct, and unsentimental with a bassy, compelling voice and an endearing, matter-of-fact delivery of unapologetically crude material.
Pace
Brisk and engaging without resorting to shouting or manic energy; lithe momentum that hits hard from the opening seconds.
About
offensive words and slurs, aging and physical deterioration, parenthood and young children, racial privilege, unhealthy indulgences, sex and marriage

What the critics said

Universally praised as top-of-his-game stand-up that combined razor-sharp craftsmanship with brutal honesty, though some critics questioned whether the exploration of racial slurs hit its mark.

In the room: Rapt and vocal theater crowd in C.K.'s hometown, laughing intensely through provocative and taboo premises.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, allmovie.com, blu-ray.com, chortle.co.uk, allmusic.com, thecomicscomic.com, dead-frog.com, npr.org.

Backstory

Filmed in his hometown of Boston near his very first apartment; dedicated to George Carlin, who recorded his final special on the same night and died months later. It captured C.K. navigating encroaching middle age, fatherhood, and marital strain preceding divorce.

Details

Released
Taped
Berklee Performance Center, Boston
Runtime
61 min
Where
LouisCK.com
Director
Louis C.K., Shannon Hartman
Honors
Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy SpecialPeaked at #5 on US Top Comedy Albums (Billboard)
Topics
Before
Shameless (2007)
After
Live at the Beacon Theater (2011)

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